1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of molecular biology, genomics, immunology and neurobiology. More particularly, it concerns the identification of specific genes that are dysregulated in patients afflicted with neurodegenerative diseases (ND). These genes can be used to identify subjects suffering from or at risk of NDs, and can also provide targets for ND therapies.
2. Description of Related Art
Genes for many autosomal dominant or recessive neurodegenerative diseases have been already identified. However, little is known about the complex genetics behind the vast majority of sporadic or ‘idiopathic’ neurodegenerative diseases. These diseases are likely to be caused by the combinatorial effect of several susceptibility genes acting in concert with environmental risk factors. Identifying the relevant genes, elucidating their molecular function, and defining targets for neuroprotective drugs pose great challenges and will require novel scientific methodologies. These genetic strategies will help to bring the benefits of the recent genomic revolution to the clinic and the operating room, by developing treatment strategies for neurodegenerative diseases.
Traditional scientific approaches have always focused on serial studies of one gene at a time. For complex diseases that are caused by a multiplicity of susceptibility genes, high-throughput analysis of many genes in parallel is a more efficient and informative approach, though cost considerations have been a major problem in the past. Gene chips or ‘microarrays’ attach probes for transcripts of tens of thousands of genes onto a rigid support such as a glass slide and permit a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of transcript changes. However, such comprehensive gene listings for neurodegenerative diseases have yet to be established.